Notes, quotes and observations from camp — Day 5

NAPA — Two years ago, Denarius Moore burst onto the scene in training camp as a wide receiver to be reckoned with. Last season, Rod Streater made a huge splash. This year, it’s Andre Holmes emerging from a crowded receiving corps and making a strong case for a roster spot, if not significant playing time.
Holmes, 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds, caught two passes for 11 yards in seven games with the Dallas Cowboys last season. He also spent time with the Minnesota Vikings since he entered the NFL out of Hillsdale college, the same college that produced Raiders left offensive tackle Jared Veldheer.
Moore and Streater ultimately enjoyed successful rookie seasons. Time will tell if Holmes follows their lead, even if he isn’t a rookie.
If so, he won’t get to make his mark until the Raiders fifth regular-season game, at the earliest, because he was suspended four games by the league for violating its policy on performance-enhancing substances.
Holmes has outshined the likes of second-year receiver Juron Criner, 2013 draftee Brice Butler and undrafted free agents Conner Vernon and Sam McGuffie so far.
Time and again, it’s Holmes making the big play, drawing oohs and aahs from the fans in attendance and catching the eyes of the coaches that will decide who stays and who goes a month or so from now.
“I’ve made some plays and everything but I’m still going to be hungry and just think, ‘OK, I’ve done what I’ve had to do,’ ” Holmes said. “It’s continuous, especially going into the preseason games. That’s where, I said every practice is a game, well the preseason is like the Super Bowl. You got to go out there and show your worth and just because you do it the first four days of camp, you got to keep doing it every single day.”
On Tuesday, Holmes worked his way into the corner of the end zone, timed his leap perfectly and came down with a pass from Tyler Wilson just as the ball sailed over cornerback Taiwan Jones’ fingertips.

— As long as we’re on the subject of wide receivers, coach Dennis Allen said he still isn’t sold on any of the players on his roster as the go-to receiver just yet.
He is hopeful that someone will emerge as the clear-cut No. 1 by camp’s end. Moore and Streater figure to be the only legitimate candidates for that role right now.
“I don’t think we have a go-to guy yet,” Allen said. “I’m waiting for someone to jump out and be the guy. We have a talented, young group that’s working hard, but it’s going to be a work in progress. We have until September to figure that out.”
Moore played the part last season, until he lapsed the second half of the season. Allen is eager to find out if Moore can regain his standing as the No. 1 receiver on this team.
So, what does Moore have to do?
“Make the plays that we want him to make,” Allen said. “He’s going to have to go up and make the contested plays, and he’s going to have to make sure he doesn’t have those concentration drops that he had at times last year. Again, It’s as much about the mental part of it as the physical part of it.”
Beyond that, Allen said, he wants every one of his receivers to develop a certain mind-set.
“Just, to be the go-to guy you’ve got to see yourself as a go-to guy,” Allen said. “We’ve got to develop a swagger with the players on this team. There’s got to be a vision and there’s got to be a belief that they’re good football players, and that they can get the job done.”
Streater said he is taking that message to heart and not wasting any days at practice.
“As of now, I feel like I’m competing for that,” Streater said. “Every day, anything that comes my way I got to catch. Whatever I don’t, I just got to continue to work hard and just continue to focus on running routes right, blocking and doing things receivers do when the balls not in the hands.”

— Nice touch by Pro Football Hall of Famer Willie Brown and current Raiders scouts Zack Crockett and Calvin Branch to spend some time with long-time season ticketholder Josh Maresca during practice today.
Maresca, who turned 58 today, is battling illness right now, so the visit no doubt served as a nice pick-me-up. He watched today’s practice while wearing a No. 80 Raiders jersey.

— Linebacker Joe Mays signed with the Houston Texans, but not before receiving interest from a handful of other teams, including the Raiders.
It’s unclear whether the Raiders offered Mays a contract before he opted to sign with the Texans. However, he was on the market when the Raiders were searching for help at linebacker in light of injuries to Miles Burris, Billy Boyko and Kaluka Maiava.

— Allen had a rather revealing quote about rookie cornerback D.J. Hayden: “He’s not a first-round draft choice that feels like he’s entitled. He’s a first-round draft choice that wants to come in and prove himself. That’s what I like about him.”
Everything we’ve seen from Hayden supports Allen’s take. Hayden got beat on back-to-back plays Tuesday, but he bounced back and ran stride for stride with the receiver a few plays later and prevented a long completion.
Even though Hayden hasn’t been cleared for contact in practice, he participates in every drill, doesn’t take off plays and soaks up as much info as he can from coaches and veteran players.

— Offensive players wore the silver jerseys the past couple of days. As it turns out, that’s more than coincidence.
Allen said there’s a little competition going on between the offense and defense each day, with the unit that outperforms the other getting to wear the silver jerseys the next day.
It’s all part of fostering competition, creating a little good-natured rivalry and keeping things interesting during the drawn-out days at training camp.
“There will be practices throughout training camp where we’ll put the jerseys up for grabs and the side of the ball that competes the best,” Allen said, “because, at the end of the day, we’re judged on winning and losing. We had a competition day the other day, the offense won the jersey, the defense is fighting to get it back.”

— Tony Bergstrom worked at left guard once again with Lucas Nix sidelined by injury. The rest of the offensive line looked the same, for the most part.
Jared Veldheer is at left tackle, Stefen Wisniewski at center, Mike Brisiel at right guard and Khalif Barnes at right tackle.
Recently signed lineman Andre Gurode worked at right guard and center. He moved from center to right guard when he was on the field with Wisniewski.

— The play of camp so far came late in the proceedings today, when defensive coordinator Jason Tarver pleaded with his troops to make a goal-line stand.
On the next snap, strong safety Tyvon Branch jumped a route for tight end David Ausberry, stepped in front of Ausberry and intercepted Matt Flynn’s pass. Branch was off to the races, his teammates and Tarver off the hook with excitement.

— A close second came a tad earlier when fullback Marcel Reece matched up with Jones, bolted down the left sidelined, timed his leap perfectly and snared the ball over Jones and kept going for a long touchdown.
That’s the precise reason the Raiders love Reece so much, for his ability to create matchup nightmares because of his rare combination of size, speed, hands and athleticism.

I kind of get it…when I was younger if there was a pill I could take that would have made me a better guitar player I am sure I would have took it legal or not.

If they want to stop these guys from juicing they need to be called out on it and users of performance enhancing drugs need to be treated differently than street drugs cold medicine that show up in piss tests.

RAIDERMAN99

Mindlessly insulting, huh ?

That’s pretty precious.

Right after you found it appropriate to start up the ‘trailer park’, ‘skid mark’ garbage about a poster that’s not even here to defend himself.

Man love for MistaB? No.

Not any more than the man love you have for each other while you insult someone that’s not here and giggle about it like little girls.

DutchRaider77

@Silverandblack666

True, I just hate Rodney Harrison (Patriot and Charger, C’Mon)…just thought it was funny he was pretending that HGH wasn’t a big deal compared to sterioids.

Plunketthead

Come to think of it they were other stronger types of dexedrin called black beauties and birds eggs. But they were hard to get.

Then the late 70, early 80 they started selling “energy” pills or high caffeine and they made them to look like birds eggs and black beauties.

They sold them legally and they jacked you up like todays red bull

Purvisman/Intrepid/Eternal Optimist

The_Judge37 Says:
July 31st, 2013 at 9:09 am How many of our players got caught up in that BALCO mess? I remember Wheatly and Romo, but they never got busted when they were on our Roster. I attribute that to a great training team.
—————————————————
dplunk Says:
yes Romo was a juicer, but I thought I said RECENT history..what R U talking about 10 years ,or so?
===========================================

Unfortunately, that is recent history for some of us.

RAIDERMAN99

Don’t limp wristedly take a back handed jab at me talk to me to my face.

Do you have a problem with that?
==================================
Not at all, tough guy.

Not going to argue with you Rainman99 because arguing on a BLOG is like the Special Olympics. Even if you win you are still a retard!

So retract your claws and go back to posting about man boobs.

Dakota

What are you freaks fighting about today?

The Big Banana

If we could somehow beat the donks with the difference being a CWood forced turnover, that would about make my year for me. Just catch a shot of Bailey’s mug at the end of the game too please. Thank you, that’s all.

J Hill

Finest meals????

Breakfast – Cinn/Butter waffles w/ applewood bacon

Lunch – Pastrami burger w/ zucchini fries

Dinner – Red Snapper, buttered rice, tomato and avocado salad.

Keep it simple folks.

RAIDERMAN99

Greenies? Never heard them called that. Jim Bouton called them crosstops in Ball Four
=============================================
I don’t remember it that way.

Yeah and you keep calling a grown man “Tits’ behind im his back because you don’t have the sack to say it to his face.

Its cool I know your type real tough behind a keyboard calling people names. I have called your buddy brown stains every name in the book while he was right here so pipe down half tard.

You really should have shut your mouth while you were ahead!

raidertbone

Arguing is what we do — arguing MINDLESSLY is what we do BEST!!

Purvisman/Intrepid/Eternal Optimist

Just Fire Baby Says:
So if kids walked 3 miles to school back then, those fools could have been popping elephant steroids mixed with Crystal Meth.
=================================================

5 miles. In the snow. Uphill both ways.

aig-raiders

Just heard Jason Laconfora on KNBR this morning and dude thinks we be lucky at 3-4 wins this yr. Last yr, we won 4 games with a bunch of bandaid in the backfield and he thinks we can’t at least match last yr’s. Sims, Walker, Roach, Jenkins, Porter, Hayden and Woodson are an upgrade over Kelly, Seymour, Goethel, McLame and that backfield. Those National Reporters are a frickin joke.

The_Judge37

771-772, LOL

aig-raiders

raidertbone Says:
July 31st, 2013 at 10:08 am

Arguing is what we do — arguing MINDLESSLY is what we do BEST!!
———–
Been guilty of that. Sad but true.

The Big Banana

Lol @ uphill both ways

Raiderfusion

Silverandblack666: I’ve agreed with some of the things you’ve written in the the past, but you’ve crossed the line. Anyone who would call a Special Olympian a Retard is a simple minded fool, and really doesn’t give a rats ass about people. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Purvisman/Intrepid/Eternal Optimist

J Hill Says:

he CTRL-F’s

—————————————————————

Gawd damn.

Some of you and your blog tricks, lol.
=======================================================

Dream Sequence Scenario # 1,811:
Gabbert goes down for the year; Jags sign JaMarcus Russell off the street. He continues to lead them to the worst record in football, which lands them the #1 pick. The Raiders call and really want Clowney (they hold the #2 pick). So the Jags broker a deal, swap picks with the Raiders in exchange for the Raiders’ #1 in 2015. The Jags still get the quarterback they want/need (Bridgewater), who will then lead the team once they move to L.A. — AND WE GET CLOWNEY!!!

RAIDERMAN99

TITS is the nickname I use for TA.

I’m not doing it behind his back.

I call him TITS on a widely read blog.

Have you called ‘brown stains’ that – to HIS face ?

No ?

Maybe it’s bcz you don’t have the sack for that.

I’M not the one trying to be a TOUGH GUY here.

I’M not the one that’s talking about sacking up.

I’M not the one that’s threatened to kick other posters butts.

I’M not the one that talks about ‘dirty mexicans’ ‘dirty arabs’ etc. and looks for fights all the time.

That’s YOU, nitwit.

J Hill

Computer 101.

————————————————————–

Didn’t have that class where I went to school.

We were learning how to build radios in shop class.

Plunketthead

Purvisman/Intrepid/Eternal Optimist Says:
July 31st, 2013 at 10:08 am
Just Fire Baby Says:
So if kids walked 3 miles to school back then, those fools could have been popping elephant steroids mixed with Crystal Meth.
=================================================

5 miles. In the snow. Uphill both ways.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Smoking angel dust and sherm to stay warm and take the edge off the PCP

J Hill

99,

What are you doing, dude???

Enough already!

hwnrdr

781.J Hill Says:
July 31st, 2013 at 10:19 am
Computer 101.

————————————————————–

Didn’t have that class where I went to school.

We were learning how to build radios in shop class.

LOL…I remember that! Mine blew up! I had to do a quick redo so I can at least pass the course!

If I ever gave you the impression that I did please understand that was not my intentions.

Just so you know though there are many comedians who make a living making fun of retarded children or the special Olympics. In fact there is an entire movie about it with Johnny Knoxville and there are entire episodes of South Park making fun of people with special needs you can go as far back as Living Color and see Damon Waynes play Hani-man.

You might want to sit down and write a letter to Disney and Nickelodeon about your feelings it would serve you better than berating a Raider fan in a Blog about it.

I asked him to let it go way back 30 posts ago #760 but he has to get the last word in watch….

Raiderfusion

I wasn’t talking about comedy. So pull your head out of your ass. You were using that as a putdown, not for comedic effect.
I see that my idea was a little too much for your pea sized intellect, so go back to your Double Wide and continue to beat your wife and kids.

hwnrdr

So I heard that the Pro-Bowl will be no more after this year! Players will now be on teams (fantasy) captained by Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders (According to a tweet by Schefter)
This years Pro-Bowl will have no kickoffs, and will only have 43 players for each squad!
Thoughts?

I can post some vid of the new and improved Terrel Pryor. I am sure some of you would love that.

The Big Banana

But out of all the camps they’ve shown so far – the RAIDS seemed to have the least happening. The least up tempo and organized.

——-

Thought DA was supposed to be known for his organization?

hwnrdr

793.The Big Banana Says:
July 31st, 2013 at 10:42 am
I can live without the Probowl. Haven’t tuned into it for years.

Me too! And believe it or not, all the years that it was in Hawaii…I have never gone!

Dakota

Hwnrdr….how did every thing fair with that tropical storm?

RAIDERMAN99

99, on SUnday I was watching and they were switching back and forth between Big Ben and how is he gonna do this year and another team (I forgot)! DO they really go through all 32 teams?
===============================================
Not each day, obviously. But they do claim they’re going to visit all 32 camps.

Seems like they try to cover about 4 camps each day.

Some teams like the Redskins, Pats, Mules, Cowboys seem to have gotten more than one day’s worth of coverage and are on all the time.

RAIDS probably got the least coverage, with the least amount of ‘live’ coverage while practice was going on.

The Big Banana

Hwnrdr Says:
July 31st, 2013 at 10:45 am
793.The Big Banana Says:
July 31st, 2013 at 10:42 am
I can live without the Probowl. Haven’t tuned into it for years.

Me too! And believe it or not, all the years that it was in Hawaii…I have never gone!